Minbo (1992)

Minbo or the Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion (ミンボーの女) is a hilarious Itami movie about the yakuza. In it, the yakuza are thugs, bullies, extortionists, and most importantly, afraid of actually being confronted. This was a pleasure from start to finish. It's a little long for a comedy, but it's delightful all the same.

The Great Noodle Western

Tampopo (Dandelion) is a hilarious movie. It is also endlessly charming, delightful fun. There are so many ridiculously funny sequences that one begins to lose track. It's a kind of tribute to ramen – and to food and eating in general.

I watched this film the day I got back into Tallahassee from my summer stock job. I drove into town just before dinner, so I decided to go to my favorite restaurant in town, Downtown Ramen... only to find that it was closed for business and has no plans to reopen.

I went home and watched Tampopo as an act of mourning. It cheered me up enormously.

Also, the main actor, Yamazaki Tsutomu, has this assistant who I thought was really handsome so I decided to look him up. It turned out to be none other than Ken Watanabe! Look how handsome he is in 1985. (that's him with the biceps):